Something To Believe In
by CJ Moliere
Summary: Rumplestiltskin is sent to Earth as an infant. When his town is threatened by crime, Rumple becomes their hero only when the people start taking advantage of his kind nature, he becomes a recluse named Nick Gold. He is determined to put his secret superhero past behind him until Belle French arrives in town determined to expose him as a fraud and his son Bae takes up his mantle.
1. Pan's Oath

**Author's Notes: This Rumbelle version of Superman is heavily influenced by the original Superman I and II and may contain some dialogue and scenes from the movies. **

In another galaxy, thousands of light years away, there once was a planet called Muldalso. The Muldalsians were a peaceful race, highly intelligent and the most technologicially advanced society in the universe. The ruling body of this peaceful planet consisted of a high council, twelve members elected based on their contributions to society. Among those was Xandor, a brilliant scientist, historian and theologian. When he wasn't working on projects that would further improve life on Muldalso or preserving the planet's history in the archive prisms, he served as the council's prosecutor during criminal proceedings, obtaining the evidence and presenting it to the council for judgment. Even if eleven out of the twelve council members cast the same vote, he was always the deciding factor and in order for anyone to be found guilty and punished sufficiently, the vote had to be unanimous.

Restrained inside a force field in the High Council chambers were three members of the Muldalsian security force, one of them General Pan, the high commander. The other two were Major Zozo and Captain Zelena. Word had reached the council from lower ranking members of the security force that Pan was plotting a revolution to overthrow and execute the members of the High Council and create a new government with himself as its only leader. Over the years, Pan had become self centered and egotistical, firmly convinced that _he_ was the only person qualified to rule their world only he would transform the republic into a dictatorship, something all Muldalsians feared. The planet had been a dictatorship in the past and those two hundred years of terror were years the people wanted desperately to forget. Learning that a man the council trusted so much had betrayed them so cruelly was a wound that cut deep into the hearts of all its members with the exception of Xandor. He'd been expecting it and in some ways he agreed with the man. The council grew too comfortable in its position of authority and there were instances of abuse of that authority that were swept under the carpet as it were. When he was approached to join Pan's regime at the promise of having a voice in the new government second to Pan's he considered taking it.

Immediately after the meeting between them Xandor returned home to discuss the offer with his wife, the Muldalsian archivist Almedea. She was sitting in the living room holding their newborn son Rumplestiltskin in her arms.

"Surely you are not thinking of participating in this madness Xandor," she said. "To do so would be treason."

"I am aware of that but we cannot deny that in the last decade the council has not always acted in the best interests of the people," he argued.

"Pan is not the solution to the problem, he will be a larger problem. He is arrogant and malicious and will send our world back into the Dark Times. Is that the kind of world you want us to live in, that you want our son to grow up in?"

"If I were to accept Pan's offer I would have the power to make this world the one we want to live in."

"No, you would not. He would dispose of you once he no longer needed you and you are a fool if you think otherwise. You must inform the council of this plot and bring Pan and his accomplices to trial," Almedea advised.

Xandor presented the evidence he obtained about the insurrection to the council. They listened closely, entering notes on their datapads that they would study during their deliberations while Pan and his accomplices awaited their fate.

"We will now review the evidence and in one hour's time deliver our verdict," High Councelor Valzar announced. Pan glared at him through the force field. Of all the members of the High Council, he was the eldest and more set in his ways. If he voted to condemn them, the others would agree only because they feared him, not because they felt it was the right choice. Xandor was the wild card. His would be the deciding vote and it was he whom Pan would hold responsible if they were condemned.

The hour passed and the council reassembled. Each member rose and faced the accused, delivered their verdicts and returned to their seats. Eleven votes for guilty and there was one left to be delivered. Xandor took a deep breath and rose from his chair.

"Think carefully Xandor," Pan said. "You have one last chance. You alone know that I speak the truth. A new order is needed and you will at last be the voice you were denied in this one."

"I have. You speak not for the people but for yourself. You are guilty of treason and as punishment you will be confined in Shadowlands for all eternity!" Xandor announced and walked over to the communication terminal, pressing the button that would open the prison. Shadowlands was a place where time did not exist and the isolation drove its occupants mad.

"One day you will bow down before me, Xandor!" Pan vowed as the three criminals were being drawn into the portal. I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity! You will bow down before me...both you, and then one day your heirs!" he snarled while the other man was walking away.

"We will crush you and we will have our revenge!" Zelena declared.

"Revenge!" Zozo growled.

Xandor returned to his apartments in the capitol building and took his son in his arms while his wife was looking at some data on their communication terminal frowning.

"It is worse than we feared, Xandor. In four days' time Muldalso will collide with the sun and be destroyed. Is the transporter finished?"

"Yes but for a few minor adjustments."

"Earth? They do not have our advanced technology or knowledge and Rumple may look like one of them but they will recognize immediately that he is not one of them since their sun will strengthen his abilities."

"He will find his purpose in this world," Xandor said confidently.

"Earth people are opportunistic by nature and will become dependent on him to solve problems they should solve themselves," Almedea argued.

"Only if he allows them to, my love."

She reached out and caressed the baby's cheek, tears streaming down her cheeks. "My precious boy..."

It was breaking both of their hearts but there was no other choice. If their planet was going to be destroyed, sending their son to another world, another galaxy would be his only hope for survival.


	2. A Journey Through Time and Space

**Author's Notes: Some of the dialogue from Rumple's departure comes directly from the 1978 Superman movie because I feel they are some of the best lines written in cinema and delivered brilliantly by the late Marlon Brando. **

Xandor stood in the center of the High Council room, his head bowed as the remaining eleven council members surrounded him. The previous day he stood among them, passing judgments on the disgraced members of the security force for high treason. Now he himself faced charges of insurrection. His warnings regarding the fate of their world were dismissed as the ravings of a disturbed man for the other scientist on the council disputed his claims that in three days' time, Muldalso would be consumed by its own sun as the two collided. Even as technologically advanced as their world was, nothing could be done to prevent the disaster and the only hope the people had was evacuation, evacuation that the council would not grant anyone permission to do.

"We will not have fear and panic run ramped throughout this planet," Valzar declared. "Further study of this data you have collected is needed and you will retain your silence on this matter or you and Almedea will join Pan in Shadowlands and custody of your child will be granted to this council."

"There is no time!" Xandor protested. "This planet must be evacuated to ensure the survival of our people. Are you content to condemn them to death by denying an undisputed truth? I am not!"

"Very well." Valzar tapped several keys on the communication terminal. Minutes later members of the Muldalso guard entered the room. "Go to the apartments of Xandor and take the boy."

"No! I...I will keep my silence...if you will not take my son." Xandor said resignedly. If he refused his son's fate would be the same as theirs. Negotiation was one of his strengths; it was what made him an effective council member.

"And you will also give us your word as a council member that you will not make any evacuation attempts?"

"Yes."

"You are well aware of the penalties for deceiving this council. You will be charged with high treason and sentenced to Shadowlands for all eternity and custody of your son will be granted to whom the council wishes," Valzar reminded him. "I ask you again: you are giving us your word as a member of this council that you will make no attempts to evacuate this planet?"

"Yes."

As he was walking back to his apartments in the city square he glanced up at the sky, his brow creasing with worry. Surely the people had noticed the dramatic change in the planet's climate. The heat was making breathing difficult and the snow in the mountains was beginning to melt, the runoff causing the lakes and rivers to rise and soon the massive flooding would begin. He could see the destruction in his mind as if it were already occurring and the screams of the dying would haunt his dreams in the nights they had left. They would have to proceed with caution if they had any chance of spiriting Rumple away safely.

Their most difficult and most dangerous task was to extract all of the information from Muldalso's archives and load them into the prisms that Rumple's transporter would carry along with the child to Earth. When he reached maturity the primary prism would activate and create a safe haven for him to learn more about his heritage and help him find his place in his new home. There were also several others with personal messages to the child the couple recorded. They would not live to see their son grow to manhood yet he would still be able to seek their advice should he need it. Those prisms were designed to have them provide answers for some of the most basic issues their son might have in his new world.

Both of them knew now the council was having them watched for any outward signs of defiance so the couple carried on as normally as they could during the day and at night they retreated to Xandor's lab to continue their work. The energy output of the lab was well above the legal limits and just before midnight on the final day the transporter was ready. By Xandor's calculations, the final explosion would occur just before dawn.

"It's time," Xandor informed his wife. She rose from their bed and lifted Rumple out of his crib though he did not fuss from being awakened from his slumber early as he had many times before since she'd kept him awake most of the day to bring his energy level down enough that he would already be asleep when they placed him in the transporter's stasis chamber. The journey to Earth would take nearly three years and in that time several of the prisms would activate and implant knowledge their son would need in his new world. In the lab, Xandor pressed a button to open the hatch of the transporter. Almedea carefully placed their baby son inside, wrapping the blanket around him. The baby looked up at his parents, a small smile on his little lips.

"You will travel far, my little Rumple," Xandor said softly as he caressed his son's small cheek. "But we will never leave you...even in the face of our deaths. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have learned, everything I feel, all of this and more I have bequeath to you my son. You shall carry me inside you all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, the father…the son...This is all I can send you…Rumple…" He choked up as he spoke the last few words he would ever speak to his son while he still lived. Almedea buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing brokenly while he wept in silence. He pressed the button to close the hatch and activated the stasis process. The transporter rose slowly in the air while the temperature in the room increased rapidly and pieces of the ceiling tumbled down.

As the small transporter crashed through the ceiling, Xandor grabbed his wife's hand and the two of them ran out of the laboratory. A large crack appeared in the floor in front of them while outside their apartments they could hear the screams of the others as they attempted to flee in terror.

_We could have saved ourselves, if only someone had been willing to listen_, Xandor thought sadly. He wrapped his arms around his wife and lowered his lips to hers.

"I love you Almedea," he whispered.

"And I love you."

They closed their eyes, their arms wrapped tightly around each other as the ground split beneath their feet, plunging them into darkness while in space a small transporter carrying a sleeping child soared its way to a new world. Just before dawn the planet once known as Muldalso exploded, leaving only tiny green radioactive fragments that would travel throughout the universe appearing to be harmless pieces of meteorite to others but to a Muldasian, those rocks would be a poison, depleting their energy with long term exposure resulting in death.

Inside the transporter, the child slumbered peacefully while his father's soft voice played from the prisms, each of them containing different aspects of Earthly knowledge such as literature, science and history. During his first year of travel the child was given the education equivalent to that of a college professor. He would not remember all of it. When he reached adulthood he would be reeducated at the safe haven he would build.

The second year a different prism activated this one explaining the differences the toddler would have from other Earthlings.

"Chief among this powers will be your sight, your strength and your hearing….the ability to propel yourself at almost…limitless speed. And you will fly, my Rumple, as a bird flies in the sky. With time and practice you will learn how to control these powers and how to best use them in this world you are travelling to. Use them wisely, my son."

During the final year of his journey, the prism that activated was one filled with cautionary advice. "The early history of our universe was a bloody mosaic of interplanetary war. Each of the six galaxies you will pass through contain their own individual laws of space and time. Respect them Rumple, follow them should you find yourself needing to travel to them. _It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history_."

As the transporter entered the Earth's atmosphere it began to heat up, plunging to the ground at lightning speed and crashing in the backyard of a house in a town called Storybrooke, Maine belonging to two sisters named Anna and Betty Gold. They were sitting at their table eating breakfast when the force of the collision threw them out of their seats.

"What was that?" Anna cried and jumped to her feet then helped Betty stand up. The two women raced outside, astounded to see what looked like a large meteor or a comet in their yard.

"Where do you think it came from, Betty?" Anna asked her sister.

"I don't know."

Then they heard the sound of a child crying. The two women followed the sounds and discovered a child no more than three years old wearing torn pajamas and a blanket huddled near a piece of the comet clutching a prism in his hands.

"Mama….Papa?" he asked tearfully. "Can't hear you…." He shook the prism. "Papa…talk….!" The child crawled into the piece of the comet and pounded on the wall. The large section of comet shattered into pieces. "PAPA NO TALK TO ME!" he screamed.

"Oh my God….Anna…did you _see _that!" Betty exclaimed.

"I…I saw it," Anna whispered.

Hearing the two women speaking, the child crawled out of the comet and looked up at them. "Mama and Papa no talk to me….Papa and Mama gone," he sobbed. He held out the prism. "Make Mama and Papa talk to me…"

Anna took the prism from the child's hands, unsure what to do with it. She shook it like a snow globe thinking that perhaps it functioned like one but nothing happened. "Sweetie….I'd love to make your parents talk to you…but I don't know how."

The little boy began to cry again. "Left me 'lone…" he wailed. "You be my Mama?" he asked hopefully.

"Anna…." Betty began.

"Both of us have wanted to get married and have children of our own but we never had the chance. Maybe…maybe this little boy is God's sign to us that we can still have a child…without a husband."

"How are we going to explain where he came from?" Betty cried.

"We could say he's a child of a relative of ours that has no family and he was given to us," Anna answered. "Not that anyone in this town would even care. They think we're strange enough as it is."

"People are going to see this, Anna." Betty said, pointing to the wreckage of the transporter. "How will we explain it?"

"Meteor," piped up the little boy. "It fall…go boom."

The two women looked at each other. This child, who it seemed had come from outer space, was wise beyond his years and his explanation for what the device was he travelled to this world in and how it ended up in their yard was simply perfect.

"Well, aren't you a clever little boy," Betty said with a smile. "What's your name, sweetie?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Don't 'member."

"Well we'll have to call you something."

"Let's name him Nicholas….after Daddy," Anna suggested. "Can you say Nicholas?"

He shook his head.

"We'll call you Nick for short then."

The little boy pointed at himself. "Nick?"

"That's right honey. Your name is Nick. Nick Gold."

He pointed at Anna. "Mama?"

She scooped him up and hugged him. "I'm your Mama." she confirmed.

He looked over at Betty. "Who you?"

"Auntie Betty," Betty offered.

"Auntie Betty?"

While they were speaking to the child, they did not notice the transporter was melting until there was nothing left but a large crater in the ground with a single prism lying in the center. Nick tapped Anna on the shoulder to get her attention and pointed to the crater.

"It…It's gone!" she gasped.

Betty crawled down into the hole and picked up the prism. "What do we do with this?" she asked.

"Let's keep it. I don't think Nick would be happy if we just left it lay out here or threw it away."

"Nuh-uh," the child said firmly.

Once they got the child into the house, they gave him a bath and changed him into some new clothes that they made for a client who had a boy Nick's age but they could always make other outfits for that child. Their new son needed the clothes more than the spoiled brat son of Howard Spencer. Albert was only two and already proving to be a holy terror. It was still very early in the evening when Anna tucked her new son into bed and sat down beside him with a book of fairy tales in her hand. She was halfway through the tale of Hansel and Gretel when she looked down and saw Nick asleep. She kissed his cheeks, turned out the light and left the room. Minutes later the prism that was sitting on the dresser beside his bed started to glow. It stayed lit throughout the night, acting as a night light for the child.


	3. As Normal As Possible

**Author's Notes: Like previous sections this one also includes some of the scenes dialogue from the first Superman because they helped set the stage for the courses of action the character look later in life and expanded a bit on the time he was with his father and what he may have learned during it. **

Anna and Betty Gold felt they'd been blessed by God from the moment the little boy from outer space entered their lives though they had to make him look and act like a normal child as much as possible. They learned immediately this would not be easy. Along with having the strength of ten adult males, he was also fast on his feet, faster than even the most powerful locomotive but the most difficult abilities that he had to conceal were that he could fly, see through anything but lead, and his eyes could produce beams of flaming red light. They stressed that he should never use his special talents except in a dire emergency though once in a while, Nick couldn't resist the temptation to show off a bit when he was alone. It also made the work he did around the farm much easier and he completed it faster.

His favorite thing to do was run through the fields, jumping as high as he wanted to. Since their farm was so far out in the country, he was free to do it without fear of anyone seeing him and he didn't have to listen to the other children laughing at him because he didn't have a mother and father like the rest of them, he couldn't take gym class or participate in any sports activities due to his right leg being disabled. To keep up the façade, Nick carried a cane and walked with a limp. He knew his mothers were only trying to protect him but he hated feeling like an outcast. While his peers shunned him, his teachers adored him. He was their best behaved and most intelligent student, always making the honor roll.

Of all the kids in their school, no one treated him worse than Albert Spencer. He was always trying to trip him in the halls, trapped him in lockers, stole his lunch on several occasions and it was difficult for Nick not to shove him into a wall, which he was more than capable of doing.

He thought he would be an outcast forever until a new girl came to town during his senior year of high school. Her name was Milah Denton. She was a beautiful girl, just a year his junior and he thought she'd never give him the time of day especially when Albert Spencer, the captain of the school's football team took an interest in her. He was walking home from school one day when Albert pulled up in his car with Milah and several other students inside.

"Where you headed, Gimp?" Albert asked him. 'Gimp' was his favorite nickname for Nick along with 'Nerd', Pencil Necked Geek' and 'Stick Boy'. He tried not to let it show but hearing himself being called such horrible names bothered him.

"Home, not that it's any of your business," Nick said angrily.

"We're all headed down to Granny's to get some burgers and fries. Wanna come?" Milah asked him with a smile.

"Gold can't come with us. Has to study," Albert taunted.

"Well maybe if you did once in a while you'd be something other than a dumbass jock, Spencer!" Nick retorted.

"Nick, c'mon," Milah pleaded.

"I really do have to study," he said, not wanting to be in Albert Spencer's company at all even if she was there with him.

"You're wasting your breath, Milah," Cora Keegan muttered. "The only thing Nick's interested in is his books. Never gonna get a girlfriend that way."

Nick snorted. "Even if I did, it wouldn't be a tramp like you, Cora."

"Afraid you can't handle me?" Cora taunted.

"No just afraid I'd get crabs or something. Never know where you've been," Nick retorted.

"Weirdo!" Albert put the car in drive and sped off, dust flying everywhere. Nick coughed while it filled his lungs and flipped him off.

"You jerk!" he yelled after the speeding car. "Eat this dust, asshole!" He took off running toward the farmhouse, kicking up his own cloud of dust. He ran beside the railroad tracks where a passenger train was traveling. He could see a little girl peeking out the window and waved at her with a smile. She waved back.

"Hey Mum, there's a boy running 'side the train!" three year old Belle French exclaimed, tugging on her mother's sleeve.

Marie French chuckled. "Cherie, no one can run that fast."

"Yeah, he can! I can see him! Look Mum!" Belle insisted.

"That's our Belle," her father Maurice said with a laugh and looked up from the magazine he was reading. "Quite the imagination."

"But I'm not 'magining it…look!" she cried, pointing to the window. Her parents glanced out the window but could see nothing.

"There's no one there." her father said. "I think someone needs a nap," he suggested to Marie.

"Don't need a nap," Belle sulked when she too looked out and didn't see the boy again. "I know what I saw!"

Meanwhile Nick leaped across the track just before the train approached, whooping with joy and raced down the road to the farmhouse where Anna had just finished feeding the chickens.

"You've been showing off again," she scolded.

"I…"

"Don't bother lying to me, Nicholas. I know you too well."

"I didn't mean to, Mum…it's just that Albert…."

"I know."

"He calls me a gimp, a nerd, a pencil necked geek and brags about how great he is on the football team with all the touchdowns he's scored but I can make one every time and I'm not allowed to!" he complained.

"I know having to hide who you are hasn't been easy for you honey but you have to understand why. We just don't want someone to find out who you are and take you away from us," Anna said. "Come on. Betty has dinner ready and we don't want to keep her waiting."

When they walked into the house they were both horrified when they saw smoke in the kitchen, Nick raced around and opened all of the windows to let the smoke clear out of the kitchen while Anna removed the burned pot Betty left unattended on the stove.

"Betty?" Anna cried, looking around for her sister, coughing violently.

"Mum, you better get outside in the fresh air. I'll find her. Aunt Betty!" he called out. He ran through the house, checking every room but he couldn't find her. "Mum, is she out here?" he asked Anna.

"I don't see her. Nick….I don't like this."

Neither did he and when he scanned every inch of the farm, a horrible sight met his eyes through the walls of the barn. "Oh God…Aunt Betty!" he screamed and ran to the barn with Anna behind him. She lay on the barn floor, her face contorted. He picked her up and cradled her against his chest, sobbing brokenly. "I can fix this Aunt Betty….I can…" he chanted, trying everything he could possibly think of to revive her to no avail.

"Nicky….it's too late," Anna croaked, placing a hand on his shoulder. She rose and walked back into the house in tears to call their doctor to come out to the farm. Betty had been a well-respected member of the community and everyone was shocked by her sudden death except for Doctor Robbins who had been treating her heart condition since before she and Anna took Nick in.

"All these things I can do…all those powers…and I couldn't even save her," Nick said mournfully as he stood beside Anna at Betty's gravesite, his arm around her shoulders while they both cried for a woman they loved deeply.

"It was her time Nicky…it was just her time…" Anna murmured.

"It didn't have to be!" he said angrily.

"Sweetie, there's nothing you could've done…" she insisted.

"Then what good is having all these powers if I can't use them to help people?"

Anna smiled faintly and caressed his cheek. "You don't need them to, Nicky. All you need is what's in here," she said, pressing her hand against his chest over his heart. In his mind however, he remembered something Betty said to him in the weeks before her death when he went to her with his frustrations with the kids in school.

"There's one thing I do know Nicky and that is you are here for a reason. I don't know what it is, but someday you'll figure it out and those kids who bothered you will be looking at you through different eyes. Everyone will."

He feared he would never know his true purpose for being in this world that was still so strange to him in the years he'd been living in it. Weeks later he graduated from high school. It was a bittersweet day as both he and Anna wished Betty had been there to see him standing there as the class valedictorian. He may have had abilities far beyond those of any human being but Anna and Betty took pride in the fact that he achieved his valedictorian status by studying hard as any other child would.

Early the next morning while he was sleeping, he was awakened by a voice inside his head and sat up. The prism beside his bed was glowing with a bright green light. He picked it up and held it in his hands, hearing the voice again.

Now that you have reached manhood, it is time for you learn the truth about your special heritage. The prism will guide you.

Anna found him out in the field the next day before breakfast. He was holding the prism in his hands, deep in thought.

"I have to leave," he said sadly.

"I knew this day would come. We both knew it from the day we found you," Anna confessed.

"I…ummm…talked to Leroy and some of his brothers yesterday and they said they'd help out on the farm from now on. Mum…." he whispered, hoping she knew this was as painful for him as it was for her.

"I know Nicky. I know. Do you know where you're headed?"

"I have to let this guide me," he said, holding up the prism.

"Remember Nicky…..always remember us…" Anna sobbed, throwing her arms around him.

"Always Mum….always." he promised her. He kept his arm around her shoulders and held her tightly to him as they watched the sun rise together, unable to shake the fear that this would be the last time he would see her.

He left later that day on foot then took to the air to complete the rest of the journey. It was the longest he'd ever flown since he first discovered he had the ability years before, making stops only to sleep, eat or use the restroom. The journey itself took two days and on the second day he found himself in Antarctica. What knowledge he had of the continent came from books, finding it odd that the prism would lead him to such a cold place. He set his prism down on the ground near an icy blue lake. It started to glow again then sank into the ground. Clear poles rose from beneath the lake, crisscrossing until they formed the shape of a pyramid. Nick picked up his backpack and entered the structure, walking up several flights of steps that seemed to be made out of snow until he came to what looked like some sort of control panel made from glass tubes, his prism sitting in the middle of it. He picked it up again and placed it in one of the slots on the panel. There were several flashes of light then a face appeared on the wall in front of him. It was an image of a man who bore a slight resemblance to him

"My son….you do not remember me. I am Xandor. I am your father. By now you have reached your eighteenth year as it is measured on Earth. By that reckoning I will have been dead for many thousands of your years. The knowledge that I have…matters…physical and historic….I have given you freely on your voyage to your new home. These are important matters to be sure but still matters of mere fact. There are questions to be asked and it is time for you to do so. Here in this…fortress of solitude we shall try to find the answers together. So, my son…speak."

"Who am I?" Nick asked, wondering how his father, though dead as he claimed to be was still speaking to him as well but he didn't dare ask…yet. "And how…are you talking to me when you're dead?"

"Your name is Rumplestiltskin. You are the only survivor of the planet Muldalso." Xandor answered. "And I speak to you now…and your mother will should you need her because we have merged part of our consciousness into the prisms we have sent along with you, allowing us to interact with you as if we were living still."

"Rumplestiltskin? That's the name of a fairy tale character…and not a nice one either." Nick pointed out with a frown. "Anna and Betty read me those stories when I was a kid and I hated that guy."

The spirit chuckled. "Blame that on your mother. She wanted a unique name for you and borrowed it from one of those…fairy tales as you call it but we called you Rumple. What is your name there?"

"Nicholas. Nicholas Ryan Gold," he replied.

"Ahhh… a good name. Still, even though you've been raised as a human being you are not one of them. You have great powers, only some of which you have as yet discovered. Come with me now, my son, as we break through the bonds of your Earthly confinement…travelling through time and space," Xandor implored.

The young man sat down on a step near the console, unsure how this would be done until two holes opened in the floor. He jumped to his feet as two glass panels rose out from them and locked him inside them, rising up in the air, farther than he'd ever flown before. Several tubes were attached to his body. He looked down, gasping when he saw Earth beneath him.

"What….?"

"This transporter is a smaller version of the one you travelled in to your home, Rumple with special modifications to see to your basic bodily needs during our journey as the previous one did though you have no memories of that journey since you were still so small when it began," Xandor explained. "It can take you through space, through time to what has already come to pass as well. Your powers will far exceed those of mortal men but like all special abilities, they come with limitations. Though you may travel back in time to events past with this transporter, you cannot change them. And it is forbidden for you to interfere in human history. Rather, let your leadership stir others to."

"How can I do that? No one knows who I really am."

"You will know when the time is right to reveal yourself to the world but be warned Rumple, that there is a dark side to human nature, one that would take advantage of you and your special gifts and make them call on you to do things they would normally do themselves."

In space the young man received an education unlike any he would find in a book or sitting in a classroom. They spent his first two years of travel discussing human beings and how different he was from them, more fragile than he was yet even with his extraordinary strength he did have one weakness.

"Never under any circumstances, Rumple, come into contact with any debris from our planet. The radioactivity produced from it is harmless to human beings but lethal to us after prolonged exposure. I cannot say for certain if any of the debris from our planet's destruction has already reached your planet but the possibility cannot be ruled out."

"What would it look like?"

"It would be green in color but you would know you are being exposed to it when you find you are powerless. As we pass through the flaming terminal which is the edge of your own galaxy we will enter the realm of the Muldalso sun, the source of your strength and nourishment the cause of our eventual destruction."

"What happened, Father?"

"The prism will show you. And now my son, Muldalso…your home….as it was."

Nick felt like he was at a movie theater watching a science fiction film that started out as a happy one yet turned terrifying in the last thirty minutes. There were tears in his eyes when he heard his father's departing words echoing through the walls of his transporter.

But we will never leave you...even in the face of our deaths. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have learned, everything I feel, all of this and more I have bequeath to you my son. You shall carry me inside you all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, the father…the son...This is all I can send you…Rumple…

His parents held tightly to each other, pledging their love before sinking into an abyss, hours later nothing but ash when their world was consumed by its own sun.

"Why didn't they listen to you?" Nick cried. "You warned them what would happen. "Y…you could've saved everyone….not just me! You could've saved yourselves! Why did you let me come to Earth alone?"

"I was not aware of it my Rumple but a small force had already been dispatched to execute your mother and me based on the energy output readings the council was given from my lab."

"For trying to save lives? They considered that treason? What the hell kind of government is that?"

Xandor sighed deeply. "One that I no longer wished to be a part of…yet the alternative offered was far worse Rumple."

"What alternative?" Nick demanded.

The next series of events shown were the offer made by Pan, Xandor's refusal, Pan's trial and his vow of revenge.

"Pan is currently incarcerated along with his accomplices in a prison called Shadowlands. It is set to travel aimlessly through space for all eternity but if it should enter your Earth's atmosphere, the intense heat created will destroy the prison and release the criminals. Their powers would equal yours; Rumple and their mission on Earth would be nothing less than violence, destruction and eventual conquest."

"Then this meteorite would affect them the same as it would me?"

"Yes."

"Anything else I can use?"

"There is a molecule chamber that has been built into the structure of your fortress that you can activate. It would change their molecular structures into those of ordinary humans. However, it can also be used on you. Never allow anyone to know of its existence or how to use it." An image of the chamber appeared before him.

"Getting all three of them into that thing wouldn't be easy, Father. Looks like it can only fit two. If they trap me in there I'm shit out of luck!"

Xandor smiled. "I built a failsafe into it. Should you become trapped inside it and the machine is activated by hands other than your own the process will start outside it, affecting them instead of you."

"I hope I never have to deal with the Three Stooges."

"The what?"

Nick chuckled. "It's the name of a show I watch. These people remind me of them. Morons."

"Don't underestimate them Rumple. That was our mistake." Xandor cautioned.

"I won't but I'm not going to let them kill innocent people either," Nick vowed. "Look, I know that goes against your rule of forbidding me to interfere in human history but do you honestly expect me to sit by and do nothing while they cut a swathe through the planet? No one else can deal with them but me!"

"True, but you cannot prevent every tragedy that befalls the human race, Rumple. You have already learned this lesson, have you not?"

"Yes and I wish to hell I didn't!" he cried. "Do you have any idea how painful it was for me to see a woman I loved like a mother dead and there was nothing I could do to bring her back? I wanted to save her and I couldn't!"

"Once we've entered the afterlife, there is no going back, Rumple. And now this year we shall examine the various concepts of immortality and their basis in actual fact…."

Many of Nick's own beliefs about immortality stemmed from the teachings at his church and he was pleased to learn that his father could not refute any of them. However, there was one that he didn't learn in Sunday school class…if a Muldalsian merged part of all of their consciousness into an outside source, they would in fact, achieve immortality as his parents had. And he, since he was no ordinary human being, would physically age like one but his lifespan was longer by a several hundred years as would those of any children he produced. It was what he feared. He would be forced to watch those around him die.

"The total accumulation of all knowledge spanning the twenty-eight known galaxies is embedded in the prisms I've sent along with you. Study them well my son. By the time we return to the confines of your galaxy, twelve of your years will have passed and you will have reached your thirtieth year. It is now time for you to rejoin your new world and to serve its collective humanity. Live as one of them Rumple but discover where your strength and your power are needed and always hold in your heart the pride for your special heritage. They can be good people Rumple, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show them the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you….my only son."

The transporter opened back inside the fortress and Xandor's face faded away.

"Goodbye Father…and thank you…" Nick said softly.

When he entered the small room that served as his bedroom and glanced in the mirror, a stranger stared back at him, not a boy but a grown man and the world had moved on without him. Now he would have to learn to adjust to it.


End file.
